Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Book ~ "Leverage Your Laziness: How to Do What You Love, All the Time!" (2013) Steve Bookbinder and Jeff Goldberg

From Goodreads ~ "Steve and I wrote this book because of our inherent desire to share the "Lazy" philosophy with the world. Most people spend their days working at jobs and tasks they hate or aren't very good at. Successful people have figured out that you're happiest, and most productive, when you focus on the things you're good at and enjoy doing. We want everyone to go forth and be lazy!" -- Jeff Goldberg

"This book describes the path I used, starting at age 50 to launch a successful company in the middle of the recession, which is why I am so excited to share my experience with everyone. Building a plan that relies on your continued laziness rather than depending on your suddenly reinventing yourself into a new person with great new skills is more likely to work for most people. Properly leveraged, laziness allows you play to your biggest strength, which is a proven strategy for success." -- Steve Bookbinder

Leverage is defined as the power to act effectively. Laziness means not disposed to work. Combine the two and you get Leverage Your Laziness, a guide to get what you want with the least effort. Steve and Jeff make witty commentary and provide useful tools to help rocket you forward towards your dreams. A quick read that is packed with helpful hints and humor. Keep it on your desk for a constant reminder to work smart, not hard.

Who wouldn't want to do what you love all the time?

What most people call "lazy", the authors call "life as it was meant to be lived". According to the authors, most people get their best work done when they are being lazy. It's the lack of laziness in their lives that keeps them from achieving what they could and should be achieving.

To start, there are three statements for you to complete for self-discovery to find out what you actually like doing:

Even if nobody paid me to do it, I would still ...

Time flies when I'm helping someone to ...

If I were the central character of a major Hollywood film, my character would ...

There are sixteen principles (including finding people whose personalities and likes are the opposite of yours, unloading things you don't like to do to someone else who likes to do them, and getting rid of the negative people in your life) along with accompanying quotes and assignments (if aren't too lazy to do them).

I liked the writing style. I found it conversational and at times comical. For me, this book is a good reminder to focus on what I enjoy and do it (and let others who like to do what I don't like to do do it so I have time to do more of the stuff I like) and to keep negativity out in my life.